The bus that didn’t wait

the promised times

Are local buses failing to meet our new trains as promised?

The new bus timetables agreed between Pembrokeshire County Council and Richards Brothers were warmly welcomed as a great boost to our new rail service, particularly with no date yet for Goodwick Station reopening. As autumn moves into winter, the 20 minute walk from Goodwick (40 minutes from Fishguard) to the Harbour Station will be a growing disincentive to take the train. So a bus to meet the daytime arrivals and departures at the station seemed the perfect solution.

But only if the bus does what it says in the new timetables.

9:41 bus waiting for train

This week Fishguard Trains took the 410 bus to catch the 9:56 departure to Carmarthen. The bus passed through Goodwick Square a couple of minutes early, and reached the Harbour at 9:40. These pictures now tell the story.

Getting off the bus, we shot this at 9:41 – that’s the time of the digital stamp on the photo.

9:42 bus not waiting for train

The bus was timetabled to wait until 9:48, to meet the most important incoming service of the morning. But the driver was keen to get on, and at 9:42 he simply drove away towards Fishguard.

9:46 train arrives on time - no bus!

At 9:46 we photographed the incoming train from Hereford, Cardiff and Swansea, exactly on time. But no bus to be seen.

In a recent comment, Rhydgaled reported receiving this statement from Richards Brothers:

“The number of passengers we have carried to and from the harbour since the 12th September are very disappointing and the cost extending the service to Cardigan in the evening would probably be too expensive”.

If Richards Brothers are disappointed with the numbers of rail passengers they are carrying, why don’t they observe the published timetable that would enable rail passengers to use their buses?

Fishguard Trains will be seeking responses from Richard Brothers and Pembrokeshire County Council.

4 Responses to The bus that didn’t wait

If the bus is shown to not depart from the harbour til 09:48 then the bus shoudl not have departed til that time. If it does keep up then maybe the council or the management at Ritchards Brothers could monitor the situation otherwise i would suggest a report to the traffic commisioner.

Having missed the 11.56 Newport-Cardigan 412 service because 2 days previously unknown to myself the T5 had been created and it left 20 mins earlier, having scoured the on line timetables a number of anomalies arise. Why were these changes not advertised at stops and on buses?

This particularly affects buses meeting trains at Fishguard & Goodwick Station. Why is the only train shown on the new timetable for the T5 at 07.45. There are a number of other services that pass the Tesco Express at Harbour Rd, why is this location not shown as a stop and pick up point for rail services? Also it is not clear whether there is a connection with the T5 when the 20.25 arrives from Clarbeston Rd onward to Cardigan now.

Lastly why do Arriva Trains persist in calling Clarbeston Rd and Clunderwen request stops? Why do they persist in announcing on westbound trains that Haverforwest is the next stop after Whitland? Travel too and from North Pembrokeshire could be indicated a lot more simply in both train and bus timetables.

There never has been connection to Cardigan from either the 18:46 or 20:23 train arrivals in Goodwick. By that time of the evening, the furthest the 412 (now the T5) ever went is Newport. The last bus to Cardigan is 18:22 from Fishguard Town Hall, this does NOT serve Goodwick.

The T5 timetable shows there are still buses from Goodwick Square (not the station) to Newport at 18:40 and 20:32. The 413 should also be operating with the timetable showing a 19:19 from Harbour Garage Goodwick to Fishguard arriving 19:21.

The 410 timetable shows the 18:40 from Goodwick square leaving Fishguard & Goodwick station at 18:50, don’t know why the T5 timetable doesn’t show it at Goodwick but then some of the codes are missing too (for example there is a code SUN which I believe they meant to apply to the 02:15 Haverfordwest to Newport service, but they didn’t so it looks like that journey runs every day).

The situation with Clunderwen and Clarbeston road being request stops is really getting beyond a joke now, especially as the numbers using Clunderwen have risen considerably over the last 15 years. …oh well. At least these 2 stations presently get a better service than Milford or Haverfordwest if you think about it!